The Pope issued on 15th December  a motu proprio “Omnium in mentem” . Preparation of the statement began during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II and required lengthy consultations with episcopal conferences around the world.

The document published today contains five articles modifying Canons 1008, 1009, 1086, 1117 and 1124. According to an explanatory note by Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, these variations “concern two separate questions: adapting the text of the canons that define the ministerial function of deacons to the relative text in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1581), and suppressing a subordinate clause in three canons concerning marriage, which experience has shown to be inappropriate.”

With regard to the diaconate:

The variation to the text of Canon 1008 will now limit itself to affirming that “those who receive the sacrament of orders are destined to serve the People of God with a new and specific title,” he explained.

Canon 1009 “will be given an additional third paragraph in which it is specified that the minister constituted into the order of the episcopate or the priesthood receives the mission and power to act in the person of Christ the Head, while deacons receive the faculty to serve the People of God in the diaconates of the liturgy, of the Word and of charity,” the archbishop’s note added.